Sports Betting Glossary

Odds and pricing

Odds: The price of a bet. It tells you both your potential return and the probability the sportsbook assigns to that outcome.
American odds: Odds shown with a plus or minus. −150 means risk $150 to win $100; +150 means a $100 stake wins $150.
Decimal odds: Odds shown as a multiplier. Stake times the decimal equals the total return, including your stake.
Fractional odds: Odds shown as a fraction of profit to stake, common in horse racing. 5/1 pays $5 profit per $1 risked.
Implied probability: The chance of an outcome as expressed by its odds. Add both sides of a market and the total exceeds 100% — the excess is the margin.
Vig (juice): The sportsbook’s built-in margin, the reason both sides of an even market are priced at −110 rather than +100.
Reduced juice: A market priced with a smaller than standard margin, for example −105 instead of −110.
Line: The current number or price offered on a market.
Line movement: A change in the posted number or price, usually driven by betting volume, injury news or weather.
Opening line: The first price posted on a market before any bets are taken.
Closing line: The final price when the market shuts. Widely used as a benchmark for whether a bet was well priced.
Steam: A rapid, one-directional line move caused by a large volume of money arriving at once.

Moneyline: A straight bet on which team or competitor wins, with no handicap applied.
Point spread: A handicap that gives the favourite a points deficit and the underdog a points head start, to even out the two sides.
Total (over/under): A bet on whether the combined score of both sides finishes above or below a posted number.
Run line: Baseball’s version of a spread, usually fixed at 1.5 runs.
Puck line: Hockey’s version of a spread, usually fixed at 1.5 goals.
Prop bet: A wager on a specific event inside a game rather than on the final result.
Player prop: A prop on an individual athlete’s statistical output, such as points, yards, strikeouts or goals.
Future: A long-term wager on an outcome resolved at the end of a competition, such as a championship winner.
Parlay: A single wager combining two or more selections, where every leg must win and the odds multiply.
Same game parlay (SGP): A parlay whose legs all come from one event, priced to account for the correlation between them.
Teaser: A parlay where you move the spread or total in your favour on every leg, in exchange for a lower payout.
Round robin: A group of selections broken into every smaller parlay combination and placed as separate tickets.
Alternate line: A spread or total offered at a different number than the main market, with adjusted odds.
Live bet: A wager placed after an event has started, at odds that update as the game develops.

Push: A tie against the number, such as a −7 favourite winning by exactly 7. The stake is returned.
Void: A wager cancelled and refunded, typically because the event was abandoned or a player did not participate.
Cover: What a team does when it beats the point spread, as opposed to simply winning the game.
Grading: The process of settling a wager against official results once an event is final.
Cash out: Settling an open wager early for an amount the sportsbook offers, based on the current state of the event.
Bad beat: A wager lost at the last moment through an outcome that had no bearing on the actual result — a garbage-time score, for instance.
Hedge: Betting the opposite side of an open position to reduce risk or lock in a return.
Middle: Holding two bets on the same game at different numbers, such that a result between them wins both.

Bankroll: The total amount of money you have set aside for betting, separate from the rest of your finances.
Unit: A standard bet size, usually 1–2% of a bankroll, used to keep stakes consistent.
Stake: The amount of money risked on a single wager.
Rollover (wagering requirement): How many times a bonus and often the deposit must be wagered before the associated funds can be withdrawn.
Welcome bonus: A promotional offer on a first deposit, subject to rollover and eligibility terms.
Reload bonus: A promotional offer on a subsequent qualifying deposit.
Free spins: Casino promotion granting a number of slot spins at a fixed stake, usually on selected titles.
KYC: Know Your Customer — the identity verification a betting site performs before approving withdrawals.
Self-exclusion: A tool that blocks your own access to an account for a chosen period; it cannot be reversed early.
Deposit limit: A cap you set on how much you can deposit in a given period, as a safer-gambling control.

RTP: Return to player — the percentage of all money wagered that a game is designed to return over a very large number of plays.
House edge: The mathematical advantage the operator holds on a given game, expressed as a percentage of each wager.
Volatility (variance): How widely a game’s results swing. High-volatility slots pay less often but larger when they do.
RNG: Random number generator — the certified system that determines the outcome of each casino game round.
Live dealer: A casino game run by a real dealer and streamed in real time rather than by software alone.
Progressive jackpot: A prize pool that grows with every wager placed until someone wins it.
Pari-mutuel: The horse racing system where all bets of one type go into a pool that winning tickets divide, rather than being priced at fixed odds.
Exacta: A horse racing bet requiring the first two finishers in exact order.
Trifecta: A horse racing bet requiring the first three finishers in exact order.
Superfecta: A horse racing bet requiring the first four finishers in exact order.
Scratch: A horse withdrawn from a race before it starts, usually triggering a refund or substitution.
Handicapping: The research process of assessing form, conditions and matchups before placing a bet.

The glossary pairs well with our beginner guide — it walks through odds, market types and your first wager step by step.

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